Understanding DIME; Trump gets it; Biden does NOT and that’s why Putin, Xi and Kim, are beating him up and taking his lunch money.
As we watch the Biden Administration flail helplessly at home and abroad, I cannot help but compare it to how President Donald Trump orchestrated his domestic and foreign policy successes. His achievements were all the more impressive, given that he faced an uphill battle as he attempted to fulfill his promises to the American people. Despite opposition from the Democrat party (some of whom were already discussing impeachment even before inauguration) the legacy media who served as their propaganda arm, and even some opposition by his own political party, Donald Trump was able to cobble together a decent track record of success, both domestically and abroad. How did he manage that?
There’s an old adage, “Luck, is when preparation and opportunity meet.” President Trump had his own version of that. It’s called, “When MAGA meets DIME.” Make America Great Again. How do we do that? What is “great?” Well, it turns out there’s an app…OK, a model for that. The DIME model of National Power.
DIME is a time honored acronym for: Diplomatic, Informational, Military, and Economic…all critical elements of national power. I pretty sure President Trump didn’t pull out a dusty old International Relations textbook on which to base his plan. However, if you look at the things he accomplished, and put those pegs in the proper DIME holes, you begin to see a pattern…a pattern of increasing and self-reinforcing capability in all areas—in other words…the Preparation part of the Luck equation. Here are just a few.
Diplomatic: Diplomatic is the totality of all the engagements we have with other nations, short of war. It includes treaties, embassies, policies and other engagements. In this arena, despite the leftist mantra that President Trump destroyed relationships, the opposite was true. He demanded and got acquiescence from our NATO powers for increased contributions on their part. Trump secured written agreements with Mexico and Canada (USMCA) as a replacement for NAFTA, which had resulted (hat tip Ross Perot) in a “giant sucking sound” as our jobs went South to Mexico. He has signed a “Phase I” agreement with China, moving the ball toward full trade reciprocity, yet another thing the naysayers said couldn’t happen. USMCA & the China deal could have had hugely positive effects on our economy.
Informational: Is the entire range of activities that the United States uses to advance its thinking to the World. And yes, that can include Tweets from POTUS.
Military: President Trump thought our military should be the most powerful in the World. At the beginning of his administration our military was already the most powerful in the World. However, decades of war had degraded equipment, reduced supplies and quite frankly, worn our valiant Warriors out. President Trump did three major things to rectify this. First, he attempted (with violent Democrat and RINO objection) to withdraw the United States from endless and counterproductive conflicts.
Second, he secured more funding for equipment and training, along with and better pay for the Troops. Third and most importantly, he got NATO to start picking up its share of defense responsibilities. This in and of itself, has enabled NATO members to more effectively assist Ukraine in its fight against Putin.
Economic: Last, but certainly not least, is the economic factor in the model. Nations without robust economies have difficulty funding their militaries and projecting power. They can have trouble defending themselves against hostile takeovers from outside (such as Ukraine) or as in Venezuela, popular uprisings within.
Although listed last here, we all know, the centerpiece of all President Trump’s efforts, was his economic agenda. His initiatives ran the gamut, from easing of regulations, to tax reform and yes, putting China and other bad trade actors, on notice. None of these actions are accidental. Each of them was a deliberate decision by the President to advance the economic ball.
There is a long list of economic accomplishments of the Trump administration. Here are just a few (It’s important to note at the outset, some of these, also enhance other DIME components, but more on that later): China Trade Deal signed; Net energy exporter; Tax Reform; Unemployment Rate lowest ever recorded in several categories, just to name a few. These achievements have established the fundamental building block of American “preparation.”
As I mentioned earlier, President Trump likely didn’t lay down the DIME template and then execute according to its metrics. He did however, deliberately focus on economic and military preparedness objectives. He had focused on those two elements in his campaign and throughout his term since elected. With those put in place, his diplomatic and informational (Twitter) had much more effect than they might have given a weaker economy and military.
There was also a strategic bent. President Donald J. Trump decided to put all the enablers in place, Diplomacy, Information, Military and Economic. It’s an analog of how we went to Baghdad in 2003. I’ve often heard, “20 days to Baghdad.” That was incorrect…it was the better part of 2 years (of preparation) and 20 days of execution.
President Trump accomplished the same. He put the enablers in place…economic, military and diplomatic. The result of that was, his tweet saying he supports the Iranian people, had an outsized effect. When he got the leaders in Southwest Asia together, the result was the Abraham Accords and the first regularly scheduled El Al airline flights across Saudi Teritory.
There were several other achievements in the international arena…How? We had a military that had demonstrated capability, an economy that can fund it for the long term, and most importantly, when Donald J. Trump says something, even via Twitter, everyone knew he had put in place the wherewithal and had demonstrated the willingness to back it up. Then there is Joe Biden. Stay tuned for Part 2.
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Like me, Trump may have not heard of the term DIME, but used it, based on his experiences from business dealings.
Idiot me heard about it in a Clancy novel. It’s amazing some of the things one picks up in a book. However, yours was a better definition of what DIME is, than the Clancy version.
Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow…also…Monday I’ll be on https://tntradio.live on the Timothy Shea show at 1800EST to discuss this very subject.